Editing North Brabant (section)

== History ==
[[File:De-Groote-Pleen-Landschaft-2015-01.jpg|thumb|left|[[De Groote Peel National Park]]]]
The [[Duchy of Brabant]] was a state of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] established in 1183 or 1190.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Brabant (duchy)}}</ref> It developed from the [[Landgraviate of Brabant]] and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the [[Burgundian Netherlands]] from 1430 and of the [[Habsburg Netherlands]] from 1482, until it was split up after the Dutch revolt. After the [[Eighty Years' War|War of Independence]], Catholics in the [[Southern Netherlands]] were systematically and officially discriminated against by the Northern Protestant government until the second half of the 19th century, which had a major influence on the economic and cultural development of the southern part of the Netherlands.

Present-day North Brabant (''Staats-Brabant'') was adjudicated to the [[Generality Lands]] of the [[Dutch Republic]] according to the 1648 [[Peace of Westphalia]], while the reduced duchy remained in existence with the Southern Netherlands until it was conquered by French Revolutionary forces in 1794.

Until the 17th century, the area that now makes up the province of North Brabant was mostly part of the Duchy of Brabant, of which the southern part is now in [[Belgium]]. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the area experienced a golden age—especially the now-Belgian cities of [[Brussels]], [[Mechelen]], [[Leuven]] and [[Antwerp]], and the Dutch cities of [[Breda]], [[Bergen op Zoom]] and [['s-Hertogenbosch]].

After the [[Union of Utrecht]] was signed in 1579, Brabant became a battlefield between the Protestant [[Dutch Republic]] and Catholic [[Spain]], which occupied the southern Netherlands. As a result of the Peace of Westphalia, the northern part of Brabant became part of the Netherlands as the [[territory (country subdivision)|territory]] of Staats-Brabant (Statal Brabant) under [[federation|federal]] rule, in contrast to the founding [[province]]s of the [[Dutch Republic]], which were self-governing.

Attempts to introduce Protestantism into the region were largely unsuccessful; North Brabant remained strongly Catholic. For over a century, North Brabant served mainly as a military buffer zone. In 1796, when the [[confederation|confederate]] Dutch Republic became the [[unitary state|unitary]] [[Batavian Republic]], Staats-Brabant became a province as ''Bataafs Brabant''. This status ended with the reorganisation by the invading [[France|French]], and the area was united into the ''[[The 130 départements|département]]'' of [[Deux-Nèthes]] (present [[Antwerp (province)|province of Antwerp]]).

In 1815, Belgium and the Netherlands were united in the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], and the province of North Brabant was established and so named to distinguish it from [[Antwerp Province|Central Brabant]] and [[Province of Brabant|South Brabant]] in present-day [[Belgium]], which seceded from the Kingdom in 1830. This boundary between the Netherlands and Belgium is special in that it does not form a contiguous line, but leaves a handful of tiny enclaves (and enclaves inside enclaves) on both sides of the border. In fact, the Dutch government generally used the pre-Napoleonic borders in 1815 to divide its provinces, in hommage to the principle of [[Conservation and restoration of cultural property|Restoration]]. A few of these irregularities were corrected ([[Luyksgestel]] was exchanged for [[Lommel]]), [[Huijbergen]] became totally Dutch, but some remain, notably [[Baarle-Hertog]] (Belgian) and [[Baarle-Nassau]] (Dutch).

When the present province was instituted, its territory was expanded with a part of the province of [[Holland]] and the former territory of [[Ravenstein, Netherlands|Ravenstein]], which had previously belonged to the [[Duchy of Cleves]], as well as several small, formerly autonomous entities.

In World War II the area was liberated by the allies during [[Operation Pheasant]] between October 20 to November 4, 1944.

The period from 1900 until the late 1960s is called ''Het Rijke Roomse Leven'' (translated as 'the rich Roman life', with 'Roman' meaning 'Roman Catholic'), an era of strong religious belief.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} ''Het Rijke Roomse Leven'' came about as result of the emancipatory drive of the province's disadvantaged Catholic population and was supported by a [[Pillarisation|Roman Catholic pillar]], which was directed by the clergy, and not only encompassed churches, but also Roman Catholic schools and hospitals, which were run by nuns and friars. In those days every village in North Brabant had a convent from which the nuns operated. Politically, the province was dominated by Catholic parties: the [[Roman Catholic State Party]] and its post-[[World War II|war]] successor, the [[Catholic People's Party]], which often held around 75% of the vote.

[[File:Zundert welkom in Brabant.jpg|thumb|A sign saying, "Welcome to Brabant". North Brabant is often just referred to as "Brabant".]]
In the 1960s secularisation and the actual emancipation of the Catholic population brought about the gradual dissolution of the Catholic pillar, as church attendance decreased in North Brabant as elsewhere in Western Europe. The influence of ''Het Rijke Roomse Leven'' (The Rich Roman [Catholic] Life) remains in the form of education where some schools are still Roman Catholic (today run by professional teachers and not by nuns) and in North Brabant's culture, politics, mentality and [[Folklore|customs]], such as [[Carnival in the Netherlands|carnival]].{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The interpretation of the Roman Catholic identity in North Brabant has shifted during the last 65 years from religious to [[Cultural Christian|cultural]], but the province still has a distinct Catholic atmosphere when compared to the provinces north of the major rivers. A cultural divide is still found between the "Catholic" south and the "Protestant" north, but with a total of 1.5 million people and 20% of the industrial production in the Netherlands the southern "Catholic" area [[BrabantStad]] has become one of the major economically important, metropolitan regions of the Netherlands.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} As of 2010, Catholics were no longer a majority of the population in the province of North Brabant.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ru.nl/kaski/onderzoek/cijfers-rooms/virtuele_map/kerkgebouwen_en/|title=Kerkgebouwen en parochies|work=KASKI|date=January 2024 }}</ref> Only 1–2% of the total population of the Catholic area attend [[Mass (liturgy)|mass]], and these churchgoers consist mostly of people over 65 years old.<ref>Kerncijfers 2006 uit de kerkelijke statistiek van het Rooms-Katholiek Kerkgenootschap in Nederland, Rapport nr. 561 oktober 2007, Jolanda Massaar- Remmerswaal dr. Ton Bernts, KASKI, onderzoek en advies over religie en samenleving</ref>